Meet the Team
We have a highly qualified team of 10+ people, with extensive experience from robotics, AI, startups and agriculture.
David Tao
Founder & CEO
David Tao is a serial entrepreneur with previous ventures including Tapplock (exit), a smart security solution provider that achieved 7 million annual revenues and Pishan Labs, a healthcare supply chain solution startup.
BHF is his third venture. He is a robotic engineer himself with broad experience managing multidisciplinary R&D teams.
Fattah Hanafi
Robotics Lead
Fattah Hanafi has 13 years in industrial robotics and autonomous driving. He has previously developed a wide range of robots, including autonomous excavators, tractors, and industrial manipulators.
Angeline Zhang
COO
Crop researcher, 3+ years in field agronomy experience.
University of Guelph, Ontario Agricultural College Graduate.
Ehsan Edjlali
CTO
Ehsan Edjlali has 12+ years of experience in cutting edge computer vision technology development in industry and academics.
He has previously worked for Institut National d'Optique, a vision research institute, on multiple agriculture robotics projects.
Zackery Chan
Robotics Engineer
Zackery has 11+ years of engineering experience in robotics and mechanical engineering. Zackery previously led the successful development of a fruit picking robot using a combination of computer vision, robot arms and automation.
Caleb Wong
Robotics Engineer Co-op
A 3rd Year Mechatronics Engineering Student at the University of Waterloo.
Tracy Wang
Supply Chain Manager
Luciano Conceicao
Chief Argonomist
Luciano has 30+ years of experience as a farmer and argonomist on vegetable and grain crops.
Shahithya Sukumar
Robotics Engineer
A 3rd Year Mechatronics Engineering Student at the University of Waterloo.
Alikasim Budhwani
Robotics Engineering Co-op
University of Waterloo Mechanical Engineering Graduate.
Jack Liu
Chief AI Scientist
Jack is highly experienced in neural network-based perception and navigational technology development. Prior to joining BHF, he served as an AI Researcher at ServiceNow Research and Queen's University.
System Engineer
Aditi Sandhu
Advisor
Wenchun Chen
Wenchun served as the executive director for autonomous agricultural equipment division of SINOSO Ltd. where he directed the development of the now commercialized RTK based autonomous orchard spraying robot. His team consisted of experts in autonomous driving technology, SLAM, RTK navigation system, path planning, Li-battery power management, motion control, and agricultural vehicle design. Prior to SINOSO, he spent 12 years developing cutting edge agricultural vehicles in Kubota Ltd. (Japan). He directed the development of autonomous greenhouse agrochemical spraying robots that specialized in strawberries protection.
Advisor
Brian Lynch
From Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Brian has extensive experience in robotics, automation, machine learning, and autonomous technology. He was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Queen's University Mining Systems Laboratory, building skills through the development and field testing of robotic systems and data analysis for improving autonomous technology in mining applications. After that, he worked as a researcher with Carleton University to help extract geophysical properties including machine learning and computer vision applications. At Vineland, he developed a robotic cucumber harvester and a smart irrigation system based on machine learning.
Advisor
Jonson Sun
Founder of GIC Merchant Bank Corp, which has diversified business interests across Canada, the United States, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Before founding GIC Merchant Bank, Jonson Co-Founded GIC, a financial holding company that oversees over a billion dollars in client assets through subsidiaries and affiliates and has raised C$200M for private companies through its institutional network. Along with EMERGE Commerce Ltd, Jonson also serves on the board of Hire technologies and Pishon Innovation Lab, the parent company of Tapplock Inc. Jonson is also active in faith-based impact investments as well as non-profit organizations. He serves on the board of Kore Alliance, a non-profit global family network, and a strategic advisor to the Thompson Family Office.
Advisor
Matthew D. Powell
Matthew is a patent prosecutor from Dickinson & Wright and a professional engineer. After graduating in 1997 with a B.Sc. in Applied Science (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Matthew began his career as a software engineer developing network systems and user-facing software applications. During that time, he was named co-inventor on several patents covering web-based groupware. After working as an engineer for a number of years, he shifted into patent prosecution work, and has been practicing exclusively in intellectual property since 2002. Matthew was awarded the Marie F. Morency Memorial Prize by the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada for achieving Canada’s highest score in patent drafting during his patent agent qualifying examinations. Matthew has been named every year since 2016 by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine as one of the World’s 300 Leading IP Strategists. He has been named since 2014 by IAM Magazine as one of the World’s 1000 Leading Patent Professionals.
Advisor
Amir Khajepour
Amir Khajepour is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and a Canada research chair in Mechatronic Vehicle Systems. He is also a fellow of the American and Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME and CSME) and is an associate editor of the International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems and International Journal of Powertrain.
Professor Khajepour’s areas of research are concentrated on vehicle systems. This includes the development of hybrid powertrains (electric and air hybrid engines), component sizing and power management design through concurrent optimization, vehicle modeling through real time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop, active and adaptive suspension systems, and vehicle stability. The driving force of professor Khajepour’s research is the modelling and control of dynamic systems. His research has also extended to ultra high-speed robotics, automated laser fabrication, and micro-electrical-mechanical systems.
Professor Khajepour’s research has resulted in several patents, technology transfers, and over 320 journal and conference publications including three books and six book chapters.
Advisor
Mehrdad Saif
Dr. Mehrdad Saif, P.Eng., FCAE, FEIC, FIET, SMIEEE, is a Professor of Electrical and Computer En- gineering at the University of Windsor (UWindsor)For nearly 40 years, Dr. Saif’s research interests have centered around the resiliency of autonomous systems, partic- ularly in the realm of cyber-physical systems. His research endeavors encompass various challenges, such as systems and control, estimation and observer theory, machine learning and computational intelligence, model-based fault diagnostics, condition monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics, as well as their applications in automotive (including connected autonomous vehicles), power systems (including the smart grid), autonomous air and space systems, and other complex engineering systems. Dr. Saif’s contributions to his field are extensive, with over 400 refereed journal and conference papers, along with an edited book, published in these areas. Having received over 9300 citations to his work, his research impact is evident through his Google h-index of 49. Moreover, for the past four years, Dr. Saif has consistently been listed among the top 100,000 scientists in the world and the top 2% in his field of research, according to a comprehensive composite indicator based on six metrics spanning 1965 to 2022. In his field, he ranks in the top 0.8% globally.